I am trying to capture Oprah when she looks
in my direction. I've never been quite as excited and
scared at the same time.
When I was teaching Positive Psych at Seneca College I taught my
students this exercise. I was trying to psych my students up
to dream big, and I used to say to them -- "You watch me
I'm going to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show one day!"
Then I used to put my hands in the air, and say, "Yes!"
Steven and I just did this exercise in the kitchen. Try it.
Immediately our mood improved! Yes.
The fall after I was on Oprah I ran into one of my former
students in the hall. He asked me how my summer went, and I
said not bad. I was on the Oprah show in May. He kept
shouting "You're kidding! That's amazing!" and followed me into
class to tell my new students that they should listen to me!
I've been painting all day -- and sometimes it's a slow process. I'm okay
with that. It's also a delightful process thinking about what will make
a painting complete, what will make it come to life.
I came upon this exercise in my blog that I learned from Mike Dooley,
and ended up teaching to my Positive Psych classes at a local
community college. It does seem silly, but it works. Since I learned it
I have had an even more wonderful life than I was already having. True.
I am lucky. And we have hard things in our lives. But knowing how to
return to joy is a quite lovely skill. And it's helpful to those
around you too. I don't mean you don't allow grief, sorrow, disappointment.
If you pay attention to the news these days, those can be a constant. I mean
you can sometimes return to being happy. Here's the exercise --
"Stand up (if you can), put your arms in the air, whoop
like you just had the best news in your whole life,
cover your face because you're so excited you can't
hold your joy in, whoop again with your hands over
your head, put your hands on your chest, shake your
head because you're so astounded with joy, and say
out loud, "You won't believe what's happened."
As I said I learned this from Mike Dooley at Tut.com
and it is amazing what happens if you try this little
exercise once every so often. Huge things happen,
wonderful things happen -- that's why I'm sharing it
with you. (I got on the Oprah Winfrey show, invited
to show in Florence, Paris, New York!) My life has absolutely
taken off into a level of joy I couldn't have imagined since
I learned to do this. No. I'm not crazy, I'm one of the sanest
people you know. And no my life isn't perfect. People in my
family and intimate circle have serious health issues,
I do experience deep sorrow and loss, and even so...
Give it a try."
So this exercise was good for that too. I now feel excited and can hardly
wait to get back to the canvas.
Try this -- I'm sharing it from a former blog.
Have a loving your life day!
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